Pay Phones in New York City Will Become Free Wi-Fi Hot Spots

Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times
Published: November 17, 2014

The modern New York pay phone will provide no shelter from the rain, no alcove for the quarreling couple seeking a private moment to reconcile. It will afford little refuge to the prospective superhero requiring a wardrobe change.

In fact, the pay phone of tomorrow will include no traditional phone at all — nor any payment, for that matter, at least for communication within the United States.

But beginning next year, city officials said on Monday, the relics will evolve into something deemed far more practical: thousands of Wi-Fi hot spots across the city, providing free Internet access, free domestic calls using cellphones or a built-in keypad, a charging station for mobile devices and access to city services and directions.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which issued a request for proposals earlier this year, awarded the project to CityBridge, a consortium of companies including Qualcomm and Titan. The initiative, known as LinkNYC, will be paid for by advertising revenues from the kiosks’ digital displays.

Administration officials framed the move as an extension of Mr. de Blasio’s focus on inequality. Maya Wiley, counsel to the mayor, said low-income people, particularly blacks and Latinos, relied disproportionately on cellphone browsing to get online. And data charges can add up.

“It’s going to help us close the digital divide,” Ms. Wiley said during a briefing about the plan at City Hall.

In a statement, Mr. de Blasio called expanded broadband access “essential for everything we need to do to be a fair and just city,” adding that the system would be “the fastest and largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the world.”

The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications said the network would be 100 times as fast as average municipal Wi-Fi systems, and more than 20 times as fast as average home Internet service in the city. A two-hour movie, officials said, could be downloaded in about 30 seconds.

The kiosks’ Wi-Fi range will extend 150 feet in any direction, officials said. Up to 250 devices would be able to use the network at each kiosk without diminishing service and in heavily trafficked areas access points can be added.

The department first tested pay phone Wi-Fi as part of a pilot program under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2012. Now the city hopes to install about 10,000 kiosks, each tall and slender — about 9.5 feet high and less than a foot wide. There are now about 8,400 pay phones.

It is expected to cost more than $200 million to build the network.

While few have taken issue with the goal of expanded Wi-Fi, some elected officials have expressed reservations about the city’s decision to entrust the final product to a single enterprise like CityBridge.

In a statement on Monday, Letitia James, the city’s public advocate, said that she had “serious concerns” about the city’s plan, calling it “a monopolistic arrangement.”

“Instead of trying to rush the process, the administration should seek a new authorizing resolution from the City Council that contemplates multiple companies,” Ms. James said.

The administration has defended the process, arguing that it allowed for competitive bidding and noting that CityBridge comprised several companies.

Earlier on Monday, Ms. Wiley said that she was prepared for lawsuits against the city. “In my legal opinion,” she said, “this is the coolest thing ever.”

Officials also sought to pre-empt the privacy concerns. The city said it would “never share or sell any protected personal information” collected on the network. But companies may use aggregate data, information extracted anonymously from a pool of users, to guide advertising.

Though pay phones have waned in popularity, they served a critical function during Hurricane Sandy, when power failures felled other communication sources. The city said backup batteries would allow for 911 calls to be made for at least 24 hours after power went out.

The city also plans to remain hospitable to the cape-wearing set. CityBridge said it would maintain three existing “Superman pay phones” scattered along West End Avenue, where a small number of traditional phone booths have survived.

For the rest of the city, privacy may be more elusive. Without headphones — or careful attention to volume — calls from the kiosk keypad could be broadcast semi-publicly, as if on speakerphone.

Colin O’Donnell, a founding partner at Control Group, a member of CityBridge, wondered in an interview if the project might fuel cottage industries for headphone vendors or umbrella salesmen. Monday would have been good for business. The National Weather Service said it was the city’s rainiest Nov. 17 on record.